Originally Posted By: Am_Fear_Liath_Mor

I had the same issue with the iconic pinnacle of US technology; the Apple Iphone, I found out that it wasn't an American product at all. Apparently it was designed in the UK, engineered in India and manufactured in China. Apple just markets and sells them in the luxury markets of the world. Same with the new iPad.

Apple considers the phone hardware - other than the industrial design - almost a commodity with the software being the important part. Hence the US packaging for their products states that the product is designed in California and built in China - from Apple's viewpoint it's the software that matters and the hardware is not important.

The Chinese are quite capable of quality manufacturing now. Their biggest problem is past habit: their exporters are so used to being asked to produce cheap junk that they're not used to catering to the more quality-conscious crowd. That will change.